Quick Facts

Related Areas of Interest
African American HistoryAmerican Civil War/ReconstructionU.S. South

Explore writings from the Civil War
by those who lived it. Sources in
U.S. History Online: The Civil War includes primary source documents — personal
narratives and memoirs, pamphlets and political speeches, sermons and
songs, regimental histories and photograph albums, legal treatises and
children's books — that present
readers with a rare chance to learn firsthand what life was like when the
violent divide between north and south threatened to destroy the United States.

Sources in U.S. History Online: The Civil War covers all aspects of
the period, including military history, diplomatic history, cultural history,
legal history, Southern history, African American history, healthcare and
medical history, the history of technology and more.

Summary:Sources in U.S.
History Online: The Civil War documents
the war that transformed America,
ending slavery and unifying the nation around the principles of freedom. The
collection examines the war and all its complexity — its causes and
consequences, its battles and campaigns, its political and religious aspects,
the experiences of its leaders and common soldiers, the home front and the
military campground and more.

This digital archive includes a variety
of primary source documents — personal
narratives and memoirs, pamphlets and political speeches, sermons and
songs, regimental histories and photograph albums, legal treatises and
children's books — unveiling a
time when friends were enemies and the United States were torn in half. Users can read about:

Battles
— some of the bloodiest in U.S.
history

Military
tactics and technology — rifled barrels, trench warfare and other tactics and
technology that pioneered modern warfare

Individuals
— William T. Sherman, Jubal A. Early and
others from both sides of the conflict

Law,
government and foreign policy — the rights of secession, Britain’s view of the War,
abolition of slavery, constitutional debates, presidential elections and more

Every aspect of the Civil War is
covered: military, diplomatic, cultural
and legal history as well as special areas of study, including Southern history,
African American history, medical history, history of technology and more.

Significance:
The Civil War is one of the central events in American history. Interest in
the war remains intense. Hundreds of Civil War roundtables and Lincoln associations flourish today. Every
year thousands of Americans dress up in blue or gray uniforms and take up their
replica muskets to re-enact Civil War battles.
Popular and professional history magazines continue to chronicle every
aspect of the war. There are a large
number of college courses devoted exclusively to Civil War study.

Sources in U.S. History
Online: The Civil War provides
students, researchers and history buffs with unprecedented access to
primary source documents not available through competitors or via the Internet

It is an essential tool to understand
and interpret the Civil War.

Source: Documents in Sources in U.S. History
Online: The Civil War were drawn from other Gale sources — including the
Lost Cause Press, The Making of Modern
Law: Legal Treatises and Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 — under the editorial supervision
ofPaul Finkelman, President William
McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, Albany Law School. Source libraries include the
Huntington Library and the Harvard Law Library.

Structure: Sources in U.S. History Online: The Civil War is fully
searchable through simple and advanced searches, but can also be browsed via
seven topical sections, each with an accompanying text and bibliographies.